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Photos from top (left): Construction of the detachable roof structure, evioronmentally safe underwater shooting for the very young, nautical working equipment and a vehicle stunt in progress; from top (right): Scenes from Snatch, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Dinotopia, Enigma, Shackleton and Sexy Beast
studio facilities
EVERYWHERE
EVERYWHERE
at Action Underwater Studios
professionally built facility. The driving force behind the set-up is managing- director Doug Green, a qualified diving supervisor who began his involvement in films at the site and on locations various 20 years back.
Green learned to weld and train there as a commercial diver before becoming increasingly tied up with film work on productions like Labyrinth and the Indiana Jones saga at nearby Elstree. He also taught a 21- year-old actor called Tom Cruise to dive on Ridley Scott’s Pinewood-based fantasy, Legend.
Perhaps the key to the success of AUS is the fact that it has so many, at first, hidden extras. Like, most spectac- ularly, a detachable roof structure mak- ing it the only underwater studio of its type in Europe where the roof can be craned off and sets built round it.
The tank itself, which can be heat- ed, filtered and, if necessary, coloured, is 30ft square with a water depth of 16ft. After every shoot the tank is drained down and scrupulously cleaned. There are three underwater filming windows measuring four foot by two, one of them fitted with optimwhite glass for dry camera use. Then, as well as all the usual safety-conscious extras, AUS also boasts a dry studio facility and dressing rooms.
The first production to be based at AUS was the 1997 mini-series remake of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and things haven’t stopped splashing there since.
You can hardly get Green to draw breath as he enthusiastically repeats a roll call of his various filmic guests. Many of them have been helped out by
ace underwater cameraman Mike Valentine who has a strong association with the studio. It was, inevitably, Valentine, whose many credits range from Castaway to The Beach, guiding the camera on an eerie underwater moment during Shackleton.
But back to more of those distin- guished visitors... like Pierce Brosnan on Tomorrow Never Dies, Brad Pitt for Snatch, Ian McShane and Ray Winstone on Sexy Beast and, more recently, Nicole Kidman for director Stephen (Billy Elliot) Daldry’s latest, The Hours.
The live-action/animation spectacu- lar, Dinotopia, filmed there for a month as well as the opening sequences for BBC’s The Blue Planet and David Attenborough popped by for a Radio Times still shoot. Not to mention Star Wars – Episode One, The Lakes, Band Of Brothers, Enigma, London’s Burning and numerous wartime recreations like D- Day Landings for BBC Science. Rock groups such as The Chemical Brothers, Stereophonics and Reef have beaten a path there too.
Some years back Green committed himself to helping with the redevelop- ment of the tank at Elstree but that has been slower coming to full fruition. “We’ve been too busy with other things,” he admitted.
“I don’t dive now, only supervise,” said Green, then correcting himself, “well, yes, I do dive... but only on holi- day.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
Shackleton, Dinotopia, The Importance Of Being Earnest and Snatch were originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative